When Two Worlds Collide—a Dasey & Jommy fic
by dafuturesingingsensation
Summary: D-Rock get a contract at G Major Records. Tom Quincy's their producer, and Jude helps songwrite. So begins the epic tale, of two couples who can't get together themselves: they can only see the two people in front of them who should. Great fun, read!
1. Introduction

When Two Worlds Collide—a Dasey/Jommy fic

**Author's Note:** Ok, this is bound to be interesting. For those who clicked on the link only because they knew one couple mentioned in the title and not the other, I'll go ahead and explain.

Dasey is the couple name for Derek and Casey from the TV show "Life With Derek", two teenagers who are only related by MARRIAGE, NOT BLOOD—got that, haters?—and whom ever since they've had to live together, have fought with each other to the extent that there is no explanation except that they have unresolved sexual tension.

Jommy is the couple name for Jude and Tommy (though I like to call him Tom) from the show "Instant Star", a young musical artist and her totally hot (though seven years older) producer, who have been in love since Season One, but through some misunderstanding or other (actually, usually it's some mistake of Tom's), they never get together, so it's this big mass of romantic tension.

I figured that since neither couple seem to realize their situation by themselves, maybe they would at least do so for each other's if they were to meet and become friends. How? You might ask. Well, while I was reading jerbils11's "I Close My Eyes" (awesome fic, must read!), my subconscious (I do not believe in plot bunnies. I gave that belief up when I gave up belief in the Easter bunny. Somewhere out there, a reader cries, "There's no Easter bunny?!" Sorry to burst your bubble, but yeah, there's no Easter bunny. Except the chocolate ones, yum. Instead, I believe in your subconscious formulating plots that your conscious works into a story) thought of what it might be like if D-Rock were to be discovered and sign a record contract with—you guessed it, Instant Star lovers—G Major Records. What shall occur? Well, nothing that unpredictable. Just that Jommy see the Dasey tension, Dasey see the Jommy tension, and both couples try to help each other out.

Oh, by the way, if you wanna know where the characters are in terms of show storyline, I took Jommy from right before "Date with the Night", and Dasey from pretty much right after "Battle of the Bands". Basically, I start the fic off on the basis that after their amazing performance—and consequent defeat—at Battle of the Bands, Derek and Casey work together at songwriting and performing, and come up with a bunch of potential radio hits. They recorded those hits using Casey's webcam on her laptop, then they extracted the audio, and burnt it onto a couple CDs (this is for anyone who wants to know all the little technicalities) and sent it off to different nearby recording studios. G Major responds, and invites them to come and audition. There they meet Jommy, and the drama—or to say it with a funny accent like Tim Rozon's, dramma—starts there.

Sorry for the lengthy intro, but I needed to write it, otherwise I'm pretty sure a lot of people would be lost. Heck, I think even I would be lost. I need to think fics through thoroughly before I write them, and I do that either through tons and tons of plain old thinking, or just writing. I'm going with writing here.

**Disclaimer:** I own neither "Life With Derek" nor "Instant Star". In fact, I don't own a thing. I mean, really, there's not one thing in the world that I've actually paid for with my own money, so basically, I can't say I own anything at all, 'cause I don't. Oh wait a minute, I guess copyright for this story and my songs. But that's about it. And I can't really get money for them anyway. So yeah.

Boy, that's depressing, not to own anything in the world. At least, not until this summer. Then I can start working for money, yeah, baby! (Ignore me.)


	2. Chemicals React

Chapter One: "Chemicals React"

**Author's Note:** Read it like this—when two worlds collide, chemicals react. It was a super-cool, spur-of-the moment thing when it happened this time, so I can't say I'll always have the chapter titles dovetail like that, but I'll definitely try.

**Disclaimer:** As I said before, I do not own anything in the world. Especially not the beautiful, religious, and multitalented Aly & AJ, or any of their songs, least of all "Chemicals React" (in fact, the most I can lay any claim on are their CDs). Neither do I own Tyler Kyte's singing voice (dang it!).

Jude peeled off her headphones. "All right, how was that take, Quincy?"

Not even looking up from the mixing board, Tom moved his hand side to side in the 'so-so' gesture, and Jude became exasperated. "Are you kidding me, Tommy?! I've just sung my lungs out, doing the song every way you told me to. What more do you want?"

"How about a little direction?" Tom quipped.

"I'll direct YOU!" Jude yelled, making haste to exit the recording booth. Tom jumped, looked up, grinned, and ran out, all in a matter of seconds. Jude chased after him, knowing, from experience of many chases past, the route he would take. However, she didn't expect him to stop short immediately outside of the studio this time, causing her to slam into him and nearly topple him over with the force. Tom turned his head to look back at her. "Nice one, Harrison."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that you were gonna give up the chase that quick?" protested Jude, rubbing her nose from where it had crashed a little too violently into Tom.

"We can't really play tag when there's company." Tom tilted his head towards the occupied couch in the middle of G Major.

The couch was typically home base for SME whenever they were waiting for a studio to free up, but they weren't due to come in quite yet. Jude herself didn't usually come in this early either, but she had had to today in order to finish off a single that was due by noon for the radio programmers. This way, both Jude and Tom had the privilege—or punishment—of being the first people from G Major to meet D-Rock, and hear the arguments between the lead guitarist and singer for the first of what would assuredly be many times.

"Casey, I'm telling you, you can't change a word from "Chemicals React", especially since we've already practiced it into the ground it as is! No more rewrites!" yelled Derek.

"It's just a few words, and it never hurts to be perfect," replied Casey, holding a piece of paper in her left hand and a red pen in her right.

Derek grabbed the paper away from her. "It's already perfect. Stop trying to change it!"

Casey snatched the paper back. "It's not perfect until I think it is. You have no say."

"We wrote it together! How do I not get any say?!"

"Since you wrote "She Said It Was Over", and the principal words in it were 'na na na', and besides, "we" did not write "Chemicals React". I wrote it and you sat on my bed eating your monster sandwich."

"I was helping you!"

"You were looking through my homemade kaleidoscope and complaining about the sun getting in your eyes. That's not the same as helping to write a song."

"But those things got written into it, didn't they?"

"That was only because you wouldn't shut up and let me concentrate!"

"Aw, come off it, Casey. You know Derek always helps you write those songs. He even wrote a couple of them all by himself," Sam said, looking up from tuning his bass guitar to remind her.

Casey glanced over at him, giving his statement consideration yet annoyed that he had sided with Derek.

"Hey, when are we finally gonna get to see 'The Man'?" Ralph asked (referring to Darius), tapping out a random beat on his lap with his drumsticks.

"For the third time, Ralph, we're going in when the receptionist calls us. She said he's in a meeting at the moment," answered Casey, not noticing Derek steal the lyrics sheet and put it away.

"Sorry, I'm just so hungry, I can't really think of anything to keep my mind off of it."

"Well, there's some stuff in Hospitality, if you want. It's open to anyone," Tom offered. The band looked up at him, not having noticed him before. They all looked a bit shocked at first, then their faces broke out into irrepressible grins, and all the guys began laughing.

"Look guys, it's Little Tommy Q," Derek snickered. "Man, my mom loved you."

Tom's blood boiled at the mention of his old dreaded nickname, but he noticed Casey's face flush with indignation as she hit Derek's shoulder. "That's not nice!"

"Oh come on, Case, don't tell me you were a fan?" Derek cocked an eyebrow in derisive questioning.

Casey's cheeks burned, but she retorted, "So what if I was? They all harmonized extremely well."

"Harmony's overrated," Derek scoffed.

"That would explain why "Chemicals React" doesn't sound as good as I think it should, then," said Casey, sitting down thoughtfully. "It might sound better with harmony."

"For the last time, Case, it's fine the way it is!" bellowed Derek.

"Well, fine isn't good enough!" Casey snapped at him, unconsciously choosing to continue the argument from before.

"It's gotten us this far, hasn't it?"

"Guys!" yelled Jude, making Casey and Derek stop bickering for a moment and look in her direction. For all the time she'd spent with SME on the tour bus, she still couldn't take prolonged pointless arguments. "Casey's right. Harmony is important in a song. Geez, do you always fight like this?"

"Yes," answered Sam and Ralph for them. Tom chuckled, and turned his head towards the sound of the front door opening, and SME entering.

"Hey!" exclaimed Spied. "Someone took our couch!"

Casey's face flushed again, and she stood up quickly from the couch. "I'm sorry! I didn't know—"

"Calm down, Casey," Tom reassured her. "The couch isn't really theirs."

"What are you talking about? It's only our home base!" protested Wally.

"No," clarified Tom, "your home base is that God-forsaken rehearsal space that you're probably going to catch E. coli from eating off the floor one day. Over here at G Major, you guys don't own a thing. Not the studio you use, not Hospitality, and definitely not the couch."

"Gee, thanks, Pops," Spied replied sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes and plopped down onto the couch to face D-Rock. "So, what's your deal?"

"We're just here to audition," stated Derek blankly.

"This early?" Spied wrinkled his eyebrows.

"Yeah, well, Miss Early-Bird-Catches-the-Worm"—he glared pointedly at Casey—"went for the earliest time slot there was."

"But don't you say that you always like to always get things over with as soon as you can?" Casey asked, trying to defend herself.

"Yeah, but not when it involves getting up before the sun!"

"Guys…" Jude interjected warningly.

The two quieted down, and Spied laughed. "C'mon, don't tell me you're scared of the overly protected Lady Harrison?" He gestured towards the latter and Tom, who was still standing in front of her.

"I'm not overly protective!" exclaimed Tom jokingly. "I just make sure she's ok 24/7."

"Yeah, that explains why you came to the rehearsal space at 2am once when Jude stayed there without telling you," replied Spied archly.

"I didn't do it for myself!" Tom responded. "She'd forgotten to tell her dad, and he called me and woke me up, 'cause he thought she was at my place!"

"Is there something going on here that we don't know about?" asked Sam cautiously.

At that, Spied, Tom, and Jude all looked at each other, then down at the floor, and didn't say a word.

"So, what song are you guys gonna perform?" Spied asked D-Rock abruptly after a considerable pause.

Casey looked at him a little uneasily, and said, "Well, it's an original…"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal it," he assured her with a smile.

"No, it's not that, I mean, I trust you," she smiled back at him, "it's just that I'm not really sure about it. I think the lyrics still need some work, and that the song would be better with some harmony."

"Well, maybe I can help you out with that," he offered companionably. "Show me."

"Thanks, I—Derek, where are the lyrics?" Casey's voice changed midsentence from containing gratitude to Spied to anger at her stepbrother.

"Calm down, princess, I got it right here," he said, taking the paper out of his back pocket and handing it directly to Spied, but as Spied took it, he realized Derek was still holding onto it. "Just so you know, guy," Derek gazed firmly at him, "I think the thing's perfect the way it is, so don't you dare change a word."

Spied frowned slightly. "Ok…"

Derek released the paper, and Spied unfolded it and read the lyrics through. He immediately looked up at D-Rock. "You guys wrote this?"

"Casey did," the guys admitted.

"This is amazing! I don't know why you'd want to change a thing."

"Exactly!" Derek looked at Casey. "Now do you believe me?"

"Well, excuse me for not trusting someone whose last sincere comment to me was, 'The main reason I like school is that I don't have to deal with you there,'" Casey responded.

Derek wrapped an arm around Casey's shoulders and pulled her close. "Casey, Casey, Casey. Home is home. School is school. But when it comes to music, you know I mean what I say."

Casey rolled her eyes, but turned her head to look at him and smiled. Derek returned the smile, and they watched each other for a bit, their faces turning more serious by the second. Jude and Tom, watching, began to recognize a position that was quite familiar to them…

The clatter of wood on tile broke everyone's concentration, and Ralph leaned over to pick his drumstick off of the floor. "Sorry," he muttered sheepishly, while Derek and Casey moved away from each other. Another uncomfortable silence ensued.

"So…harmony?" Spied asked, recalling something Casey had said.

"Oh, right," she responded, laughing nervously and moving closer to Spied. "I think that the song would sound better with harmony."

"Where, exactly?"

"I think I can show you, I mean, I can sing it, right?" Casey looked at Derek. "Sure…" he answered slowly, his expression turned from one of being discomfited because of the previous awkward situation to a 'Do you really need to ask?' look. "Go right ahead. I'm sure he'd love to hear it."

"Well, then…" Casey proceeded to sing the song, and Spied quickly caught hold of the tune, singing and harmonizing from the end of the chorus onward. Spied had a high, gravelly voice, which went very well with Casey's, and fit the song perfectly. (a/n: It's just my opinion, but I do think that Tyler Kyte would sound really good singing "Chemicals React".) Everyone was staring at them, and even they themselves couldn't believe how well they sounded together. When the song ended, there was a quiet moment, and then Kyle said, "Wow. We're out of a lead guitarist, now that Spied's working with you guys."

"What? No, he's MY lead guitarist! I say where he goes, and he's staying with me!" Jude interjected.

"Jude, I think the guy can answer for himself," Tom told her.

All eyes turned to Spied, and he said a little uncomfortably, "Maybe I could just stay with SME and help with backing vocals for Random Garage Band, on the side?"

"Hey, we're called D-Rock," Derek informed him.

There was a snicker amongst the G Major employees. "Random Garage Band sounds better."

Casey chuckled, and turned back to Spied. "Thanks. What you did was…just what I needed."

"Harmony does sound good after all," Derek muttered quietly, pushing himself off the couch and going over to Hospitality. Ralph followed him.

"Well," Tom proposed, "maybe Jude could loan Spied to you for the audition, and then once you've got a contract, we can find a way to work around our schedules so he actually can work as your backup, just like he suggested." (a/n: I realize that Tom's coming off as really Liam-esque, but I do think that when it comes to music, Tom can actually mean business. I mean, you saw him when he was mixing Jude's first album. Serious like you can't believe.)

"Sounds good to me," Spied approved. Casey nodded, and everyone looked at Jude, who pretended that she didn't notice. "What? As long as I still have my co-writer and lead guitarist, I'm fine."

"Good!" Tom smiled, clapping his hands together as finally as a judge bangs a gavel, and Sadie walked in.

"Darius says he'll see you now," she told them.

"Thanks, Sade. Come on, guys, let's go and get you a contract!" Tom encouraged D-Rock as they picked up their things and followed Sadie.

"Why are you so eager?" Jude questioned him.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? If I know anything about music, judging just by that one song, those kids are gonna be the hottest new band since you and SME."

Jude's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really. Especially with that lead singer. She and Spied go great together, don't you think?"

Jude looked at him worriedly. "I guess," she said quietly. She was truly over Spied as a boyfriend; after all, their relationship had grown from a juvenile crush that they had had developed on each other due to a much-too-close proximity on the tour bus. However, it was odd that Spied seemed to be very quickly becoming attracted to this girl Casey, especially since she was obviously much better off with Derek.

The girl in question was at the moment grabbing Derek's guitar case, facing Hospitality, and introducing G Major to her trademark yell, "DER-EK!"

Derek strolled back in casually. "You yelled?"

She pushed the case into his hands. "The manager will see us now."

"Sweet." Derek grinned. He saw Sadie, and the grin eased into a smirk. "Hey, beautiful. How _you_ doin'?"

"Oh, for Pete's sakes." Sadie rolled her eyes. "Just follow me."

"I'd follow _you_ anywhere."

"Derek!" Casey reprimanded him.

"What? She's a hot blonde. How can I not hit on her?"

The bickering continued, and Jude and Tom learned just how long each of the two could talk without having to take a breath. It was a while. However, when they reached the office, Casey smacked Derek on the shoulder, and he got the message to shut up right before they entered.

They saw Darius expecting them, leaning back in his armchair, hands folded behind his head, significant papers facing him on his desk, an informal picture of formal management. D-Rock just stood there a bit uncomfortably for a few moments, due to the fact that this was their first real meeting with a real music manager, who could actually give them a real contract. Which was really sort of mind-blowing to them.

Jude realized this, similar thoughts having gone through her head when she had sat in front of the panel of judges for Instant Star. Even so, she knew that the only thing worse than a bad performance in front of important music people was no performance in front of important music people, so she shoved Derek and Casey forward. This seemed to break them out of their trance. "Oh, well…right" was all Derek said, and he busied himself with helping the others set up their instruments, while Casey stepped forward to speak to Darius.

"Well, we're D-Rock, and we sent you a demo…"

"That's right," Darius nodded slowly, a small smile on his face.

"And, well," Casey blushed from sheer nervousness, "we'd like to perform a new song for you, to see if it's good enough for"—her color deepened—"maybe a record contract?"

"I'll be the judge of that," he replied.

"Right," Casey whispered abashedly, and looked back at D-Rock. Derek gave her the thumbs-up to show her they were ready.

Tom snapped his fingers. "Oh, right, D!" He approached the desk. "Spied's gonna harmonize with them."

Darius shot up in his seat. "What? Is he working with them now?"

"Nah, he just met them when they came in this morning and helped them out. They sound really great."

"O…k…Is this arrangement going to be permanent?" Darius asked, a lost expression on his face.

"It might be." Tom smiled, and Darius knew he meant it would be permanent if D-Rock got signed. Or it might even be 'when'. If there was one man whose music taste Darius trusted, it was Tom's.

"All right then. Let's hear it." He settled back in his chair, looking at the members of D-Rock. They stared at him, then at one another, and finally began to play. Spied stood next to Casey, sharing the mike with her and watching her closely to keep in sync. She sang, and he followed along:

_You make me feel out of my element  
Like I'm walking on broken glass  
Like my world's spinning in slow motion  
And you're moving too fast…_

The simplistic beginning faded, and the band got into their forte.

_Were you right, was I wrong, were you weak, was I strong  
Yeah, both of us broken, caught in a moment  
We lived and we loved and we hurt and we jumped, yeah  
But the planets all aligned when you looked into my eyes  
And just like that, the chemicals react_

Spied took the second verse:

_You make me feel out of my element  
Like I'm drifting out to the sea  
Like the tide's pulling me in deeper  
Making it harder to breathe_

Casey joined in harmonizing, and they carried on that way, alternately, for the rest of the song:

_We cannot deny how we feel inside  
We cannot deny  
Were you right, was I wrong, were you weak, was I strong  
Yeah, both of us broken, caught in a moment  
We lived and we loved and we hurt and we jumped, yeah  
But the planets all aligned when you looked into my eyes  
And just like that, the chemicals react_

_Kaleidoscope of colors burning  
Hopes on fire, sun is burning  
Shining down on both of us  
Don't let us lose it (don't let us lose it)_

_Were you right, was I wrong, were you weak, was I strong  
Yeah, both of us broken, caught in a moment  
We lived and we loved and we hurt and we jumped, yeah (yeah, yeah)  
We lived, we loved, we hurt, we jumped  
We're right, we're wrong, we're weak, we're strong  
We lived to love  
But the planets all aligned when you looked into my eyes  
And just like that, the chemicals react (yeah, yeah, yeah)  
And just like that, the chemicals react (yeah, yeah, yeah)  
And just like that, the chemicals react_

The final chords played on the electric guitar stretched out and faded away, as the performers watched Darius for his reaction. Jude and Tom did the same, and even Kwest had silently come in when he heard D-Rock play. The man who was the current center of attention had his hands folded, and was leaning his head on them, his sight focused inwardly. He looked up to see everyone staring at him, and he cracked a smile. "What?"

"Come on, D, don't torture us like this!" Tom pleaded. "Give them the contract already."

"Funny how you seem to have made my choice for me," Darius replied, opening a desk drawer to search for a sheet of paper.

"What choice? You haven't been listening to anything besides their demo since they sent it in."

Darius chuckled. "I'm not ashamed." He took out the contract and put it on the desk. He took a fountain pen from the penholder in the corner of the desk and handed it to Casey, who signed the contract and gave it over to Derek. He gave her a look. "Oh, come on. You know I can't write with a fountain pen."

Ralph stared at it. "Why's it called a fountain pen?"

Darius rolled his eyes and went through the penholder for a gel pen. "That work?"

"Sure." The guys used that to sign instead. Darius got up and went to a file cabinet, and was about to put the paper away when Derek suddenly said, "Hey, can we have a copy of that?"

"What, you want to frame it?" Darius quipped.

"No," Derek stretched out the word out and put his arm around Casey, "just that our dad's a lawyer."

Casey shrugged his arm off and faced him. "'Our dad' isn't the same person."

"All right then, "Our dads are lawyers." Is that better?" He corrected himself annoyedly.

She smiled sweetly, but her words were venom. "Yes. I'd never want to actually be related to you."

"Me neither," Derek retorted, and with a smirk from him and an angry look from her, things were put to rights. Darius handed them each a copy of the contract, and they thanked him.

"Now, all you need is a producer." Darius was about to make a suggestion when Tom interrupted him by going, "Ooh, pick me, pick me!" just like a little kid. Everybody cracked up, and Jude gave him a look that meant she officially didn't respect him anymore.

"Well, you can have them if you want," Darius chuckled.

"Yay!" Tom exclaimed playfully, and everyone had a final laugh before Casey asked, "So now what do we do?"

This prompted everyone to stop and think for a moment. "Well, I guess you can take my time slot," Jude offered. Tom stole a glance at her before he agreed. "Yeah, that could work. Especially since we weren't really making any progress with the single," he joked, nudging her shoulder. Jude broke into a smile at the memory of the 'progress' they had been making when they had met D-Rock.

"Well then, it's settled," Darius said.

"Yeah, I guess it is." D-Rock packed their things away and followed Jude and Tom to the studio, as Spied chatted with Wally and Kyle. Suddenly Casey popped her head back through the door. "Hey Spied, come on. Let's go."

Spied grinned at his band members. "Sorry guys, but I gotta go follow this one." As soon as he made to do so, Casey pulled back and ran in the direction of the studio. Spied chased after her, an affectionate, musing expression there on his face for anyone who wished to see it.

-

**Author's Note:** Ok, I'm super sorry that the dialogue SO doesn't reflect the characters correctly, but I like to think the actions do. Tell me what you think of it, and sorry I took so long to update.


	3. See Myself In You

Chapter Two: "See Myself In You"

Casey and Spied burst into the studio ten minutes later to find everyone staring at them. "What?" Casey asked worriedly.

"Did you two get lost on the way here from Darius' office?" Derek asked, icily rhetorical.

Casey turned away from Derek's piercing gaze, but Spied put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close reassuringly, and then turned to face Derek. "Relax, dude, we played a game of chase."

"Funny, I didn't think chase could be part of the recording process," Derek retorted acidly.

"Well, for Lady Harrison and Lord Squinty Frown, it is," Spied remarked innocently.

Jude and Tom smiled at the memory of their own game that morning, but their smiles melted from their faces when they saw Derek glare at them. Tom quickly decided to step in. "Derek, it's your band's first day here. You guys are allowed to goof off a bit. I mean, look at Ralph. He's been playing with that board since he got here." He motioned towards Ralph, who was sitting in front of the soundboard and pushing buttons and sliding (what are those things called?) levels while Kwest watched to make sure nothing got broken.

"Well, that's Ralph," said Derek dismissively. "He's simple. Casey's a keener. She's not supposed to goof off. It's against her nature."

"What if I wanted to have some fun for a change?" Casey found her voice and bit back. Derek turned to look at her.

"I find it odd that whenever _I've_ tried to get you loosen up, you resist, but when _this guy_ comes along"—he jerked his head toward Spied, not even wanting to say his name—"you're suddenly a fun-loving gal."

"_This guy_ has a name, and maybe I wanna spend time with him because he's funny and not a controlling JERK," she snapped.

"Controlling jerk?! You gotta learn the business mentality! Time is money!"

"TOM JUST SAID—"

"BEFORE Tom said what he said!"

"GUYS!" Jude and Tom stormed over to Casey and Derek, respectively, grabbed their arms, and pulled them outside.

"What?! S/HE started it!" The teens pulled away from their captors and pointed at each other. Jude and Tom growled. "Is this how you always act?!"

"You asked that before, and yes," Casey responded.

"Well, that ends now," Jude declared. "Derek, Spied's a nice guy. You can trust him with Casey." Derek looked like he didn't believe her, but grudgingly nodded.

"And Casey," Tom spoke in a paternal tone so that she would listen to him. "You shouldn't let Derek get to you, whatever he says. The main reason you and he fight all the time is that _you_ choose to start it by making something out of nothing." Casey opened her mouth to protest, but Tom silenced her by raising his hand. "You know it's true."

"Tommy," Jude spoke slowly, "why are you talking like a dad to a girl right around my age?"

Tom's eyebrows rose in shocked realization. "I have no clue. Sorry if I freaked you out, Casey."

Casey smiled. "No problem. I liked the dad talk. Reminds me of Paul."

Jude and Tom stared at her.

"The school guidance counselor," Derek explained. "She sees him regularly."

"Oh!" Tom exclaimed. "Those people are good."

"How do you know that?" Jude asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I used to go to one at my school to stop getting into fights before...stuff happened," he finished lamely.

Jude rolled her eyes. "Come on, Tommy. I know you got kicked out of seventh grade."

Derek snickered, unheard to Tom, whose eyes flashed as he turned to Jude, "How'd you know about that?"

"A little bird told me," Jude retorted.

"Damn Sadie, I thought I could trust her!" Tom muttered to himself, but Jude still heard him.

"She's my sister, Tommy, and you were drunk!"

Casey and Derek stole a glance at each other, and then coughed in a subtle manner to remind the other two that they were still there. Jude and Tom stopped arguing, looked at Derek and Casey calmly sitting in front of them and watching them fight, and their faces flushed crimson. The entire situation was a bit too much like parents getting caught fighting in front of their children not to be realized by all as such.

"Well, you guys seem to have your own problems, so we'll just go back inside," Derek informed them.

Casey nodded concurrently, and she and Derek looked at one another, grabbed hands to portray their camaraderie, and returned together to the studio. Jude and Tom watched them, dumbfounded.

Tom turned confusedly to Jude. "Weren't they trying to kill each other just a minute ago?"

"Well, so were we," Jude admitted. The two thought deeply about all that had just happened for several minutes, and then decided not to think about it anymore, and went back into the studio themselves.

They found everyone preparing for recording, Kwest showing Casey how to set up the mike and Derek watching attentively to learn as well, even while he tuned his guitar, and Sam having taken over Kwest's former position of making sure Ralph didn't break the soundboard he was _still_ messing around with.

"So, are we ready to do this?" Tom asked when he and Jude came into the room. Everybody looked up at them, and Kwest gave them a thumbs-up. Everyone went to their proper places, Derek moving away from Casey to give Spied his necessary space next to her and moving off to the side, and Kwest adjusted the mixing board. When everything was perfect, Kwest gave up his seat to Tom, who took it with a nod, and spoke into the mic in front of him, "Take One." And D-Rock's first day of recording began.

* * *

**A/N:** Ok, I know it's awful, but now I look back on it, I think it was mainly meant to lay down some of the foundations. You got some jealous Derek at the beginning, you got some Dasey/Jommy connection, and you even get some Dasey at the end! Ok, I'm just making up excuses. Forgive me; my mind is on Marie and NAT at the moment! I promise the next chapter will be better and longer. I'd be glad for some ideas, if you want to give me any! Building up the Jommy/Dasey friendship will take some time.

P.S. Can anyone tell me why my NAT is so dang popular? I got four die-hard fans within about an hour of posting it. The first was in about five minutes, which was sorta scary, actually. XP Ok, not really, but still, WHY IS IT SO POPULAR?!


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